1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to software procurement, and, more specifically to dynamically providing a link to an online procurement site from within a supported software application, wherein a related software program can be purchased from the procurement site.
2. Description of the Background Art
Many enterprise businesses have negotiated discounts from vendors for hardware and software products that are used by their employees. Such businesses often have online procurement sites from which their employees can purchase hardware and software products for their work. Businesses want employees to purchase from their procurement sites to ensure the business obtains the negotiated price for the hardware/software products.
Many software vendors offer free/trial versions of their software to entice users to purchase non-trial versions for a license fee. Currently, when an employee of a business with a procurement site is using a trial version of a software and want to purchase a non-trial version, the user cannot tell from the trial version whether or not the software can be purchased from the company's procurement site. The employee must independently check the procurement site. Therefore, there is a need for a system and method that enables business employees to more efficiently purchase software from the company's procurement site.